Respect is due

Steven Gerrard insisted England will not commit the cardinal sin of underestimating Liechtenstein after falling into exactly that trap against Macedonia to place their Euro 2004 qualifying hopes in the balance.

Steven Gerrard insisted England will not commit the cardinal sin of underestimating Liechtenstein after falling into exactly that trap against Macedonia to place their Euro 2004 qualifying hopes in the balance.

Gerrard was honest enough to admit England virtually took victory for granted at home to Macedonia last October, only to be held to a 2-2 draw which prompted a chorus of booing from the crowd at Southampton.

On arrival in Switzerland ahead of tomorrow's Euro 2004 qualifier in neighbouring Liechtenstein, confidence in the squad was high, with Liverpool midfielder Gerrard looking to extend his 13-match unbeaten run in an England shirt. The one setback was that Sol Campbell had been forced to stay behind in England after failing a fitness test on his Achilles problem, giving him enough time to recover for next week's match against Turkey.

Southgate, with the experience of 51 caps behind him, was certainly preferred in the initial stages of training yesterday.

However, Woodgate, to whom Eriksson instead turned against Macedonia, is currently understood to be the leading contender in the England coach's mind for tomorrow's game.

It was against Macedonia that Gerrard insists England learned a painful lesson that should at least hold them in good stead this weekend against a team consisting of at most five full-time players.

"Our main problem against Macedonia was that we were expecting to win the game comfortably and so we maybe underestimated them," said Gerrard. "We were all bombing on from midfield, looking for goals, when we should have been a little more disciplined. I was maybe at fault for that as well.

"I've learned from that game that you can't go into internationals underestimating teams and thinking you'll win comfortably.

"You've got to treat them all with the same respect."

England realise they will be submerged under an even greater torrent of criticism if they fail to beat Liechtenstein, a country with a population of just over 30,000 with just one competitive international victory in their history.

However, Gerrard stressed: "England are expected to win this game comfortably but it's not as easy as it seems to come to a place like this on a difficult pitch.

"It's a potential banana skin so it's important that we all raise our games."

Along with David Beckham and Paul Scholes, Gerrard was recently highlighted by Eriksson as one of three midfielders who were assured of their places if fit. However, while he will indeed join that duo